TWD – Mocha Brownie Cake

This has been one of the worst winters in the Mid-Atlantic region. Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day and it snowed. I knew this would happen because I had just cleaned out my garden and planted flower seeds. I know it could be worse, like if I lived in Chicago or somewhere North of Here. But I don’t.

I started this cake yesterday when it was snowing. But because there was a 2 hour school delay and the kids were around when they are not usually around, I did not get to do it until after dinner and after baths. My daughter, L, helped me gather the ingredients and oversaw the mixer.

We added the flour to the chocolate/egg mixture and folded.

This is a very easy cake to make. It was almost as easy as a boxed cake mix.

I poured all the ingredients into a greased 8″ cake pan. The balance I put into a mini pie pan, so we would be able to taste the cake right away.

My cake rose very nicely. The top cracked like a brownie cracks. I let the cake sit overnight and worked on the ganache the next morning.

So today was the next morning. No snow today, just messiness outside. I decided to use Frangelico in the ganache instead of the hot coffee. It seemed like an even switch.

The recipe calls for cutting the cake into three layers and placing the bottom layer into a springform pan. Well, the reason I used an 8″ cake pan was because I have an 8″ springform pan. But apparently my springform pan is a little bit smaller than 8″ because I could not get the ring around my cake. So, I improvised with an aluminum foil ring.

It is not your eyes…the photo is a smidge blurry.

I fit the ring around my first layer. But the subsequent layers required me to tear the foil down so that the layer would go in. This was fine.

Each layer got 1 cup of Frangelico spiked ganache. If you don’t know, Frangelico tastes like hazelnuts. It is a nice accompaniment to chocolate. When it came time to remove the foil, I just ripped it down and off.

Finally, I iced the top and sides with the remaining ganache. This was easy.

The cake is beautiful as a simple looking, but rich tasting chocolate cake.

The layers look great. And an individual slice looks very appealing.

My little helper.

The cake part is really good, and rich. The ganache is delicious but heavy. I think a lighter icing, something like a chocolate whipped cream icing would be a very nice partner for this cake. And maybe some strawberries on the side. Yum!

To see what the other TWD bloggers wrote about this cake, click here. Since this recipe is available on numerous blogs on line, I am not going to print it here. Just search for Mocha Brownie Cake from Baking with Julia, and you will find it.